When to paint a house exterior in Columbus, OH
When to paint in Columbus, OH
A normal season: plan the job, do not leave it late. The painting window is June to September, with 4 good months a year. The best month is August, at about 15 painting days. Book a painter by April.
If you want the house done in June to September, call for quotes in April or earlier; a job pushed past September is likely to wait until next year. For a deck, the months with enough staining days to spare are May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.
- under 1Jan
- under 1Feb
- under 1Mar
- 3Apr
- 9May
- 13Jun
- 13Jul
- 15Aug
- 15Sep
- 6Oct
- 1Nov
- under 1Dec
Month by month
| Month | Painting days | Staining days | With low-temp paint | Avg low / high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | under 1 | under 1 | 1 | 23° / 41°F |
| February | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 25° / 46°F |
| March | under 1 | under 1 | 5 | 32° / 56°F |
| April | 3 | 3 | 11 | 41° / 66°F |
| May | 9 | 8 | 14 | 52° / 77°F |
| June | 13 | 9 | 14 | 61° / 85°F |
| July | 13 | 7 | 13 | 65° / 88°F |
| August | 15 | 11 | 16 | 64° / 86°F |
| September | 15 | 10 | 18 | 58° / 82°F |
| October | 6 | 5 | 18 | 46° / 71°F |
| November | 1 | 1 | 6 | 34° / 56°F |
| December | under 1 | under 1 | 2 | 29° / 47°F |
Deck stain does best in August. Low-temperature paint adds about 43 days a year here.
Towns near Columbus compared
1 of the 6 nearest places get more painting days, the most in Grove City (93 a year, 9 miles southwest). A gap like that between towns is usually elevation, a coast or a lake, which is why a painter from a few towns over can be on a different schedule. Bexley, Whitehall, Gahanna are read from the same station as Columbus, so their numbers match; the real difference is the distance from that station.
| Place | From Columbus | Painting days a year | Window | Station |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bexley, OH | 3 mi southeast | 76 | June to September | same station |
| Upper Arlington, OH | 5 mi northwest | 76 | June to September | Ohio State University Airport |
| Whitehall, OH | 6 mi east | 76 | June to September | same station |
| Gahanna, OH | 7 mi northeast | 76 | June to September | same station |
| Worthington, OH | 8 mi north | 76 | June to September | Ohio State University Airport |
| Grove City, OH | 9 mi southwest | 93 | June to September | Bolton Field Airport |
How Columbus ranks in OH
Of 176 OH places with 10,000 people or more, Columbus (population 933,263, 1st largest) ranks 94th for painting days, right at the state median of 76. The longest season in the state is Euclid, 156 days, 135 miles northeast. The shortest is Reading at 59. Switching to low-temperature paint here is worth 43 extra days, more than most of the summer months on their own.
Where these numbers come from
Daily records from Port Columbus International A (5.8 miles away), 2015 to 2024, NOAA Global Summary of the Day. A month is good at 12+ painting days and possible at 6+.